PAE vs. Urolift

I had a PAE at Tampa General Hospital on April 07, 2017 by Dr Clifford Davis.  Proceedure a snap, they insert catherter once you are out.  They do it in the heart cath lab, I work up with a cath.  They gave me water and some crackers and after an hour pulled out Catherter which is worse part but nothing.  I then had to go into pee.  The firsr few drops of blood were slightly pink then clear.  They had me drink another quart or of water and after aout 45 minute had me go pee and no issues, so they release me.  Zero pain.  We stopped to eat on the way home.  We had arrived at 11 am and left about 5 pm.

My prostate was very large, as high as 188, avodart got it down to 155-160 after a couple of years and it stablized there buy the side effect of avodart and flomax were bad. At home, the next day it burned to pee which I was told was normal for 3 to 4 days but it continued beyond that.  I have had chronic prostatitus and knew that is what it was and the radiologist said it is common with the procedure and called in a double antiiotic.  By the 20th day I was cleared up and stopped anitbiotics and also stoped Avodart and Flomax.  I was having no issues peeing ang getting up once.  It has been that way since.   The biggest plus is that I can pee now as fast as the youing guys, 30 secs or less.  No going into a busy public sports bar and tying up a urinal for several minutes.  Here is the BIG DEAL.  My Urologist did not know I was doing this, I had an appointment yesterday and told him and he was skeptical.  He had me do a sonagram to measure the size of my prostate.  He was shocked to see that it had already shrunk to 106.  Yes, 3 months and it already is down to 106.  So, Extremely pleased and wondering what it will be in 6 months. THIS COULD NOT HAVE GONE BETTER FOR ME, IT WORKS BEST ACCORDING TO DR. DAVIS WITH LARGE PROSTATES 80-90+.  He is getting referral from urologists who do not want to do their traditional treatments on prostate that are very large like mine was as there is so much more chance for ocmplication.  GLTA

i had the PAE procedure done in Feb 14,2020 at Alate Health in Houston . My outcome thus far has been remarkable .

My history with Bph has been a typical journey , except that my prostate at 188 ml was super enlarged . After suffering with incidents of urgency , and retention at alarming rates , i started investigating the options for a remedy beyond Flomax , which had lost its efficacy . My urologists all recommended I undergo a procedure . 2 urologists recommended the TURP and 1 recommended the urolift . None recommended the PAE largely because they didnt do tge procedure and didnt have any skin in that game . After investigating the choices i chose Dr Doe in Houston , an interventional radiologist and I am thrilled I did . The procedure was done as an outpatient in his office , it was a non event , no pain and mild sedation . Able to go home 3 hours after it began! No catheter !! Main side effects lasted 4 days . They were mild burning and blood in urine . Blood in semen lasted 2 weeks .

Outcome was incredible . Prostate shrank by 1/3 within 3 months and even more as of 9-5-20 . My sexual function improved significantly as well due to opening if caplillaries in penis through the procedure , a pleasant but unintended consequence for me .

bottom line : research , research and research like I did . Not a single urologist made the PAE recommendation because they didn't get paid to do it!!!! Here's to PAE and Dr Doe

Having had a failed Urolift I would opt for a PAE first and leave the Urolift as a secondary option. But objectively you should consider the prostate size and problem area as primary drivers of your decision. Urolift works better with smaller prostates and PAE works better with larger ones. (AFAIK) PAE doesn't address an obstructive middle lobe but Urolift might. And neither will address a high bladder neck. I would be skeptical of a practitioner who schedules you over the email for the next day. Get a second and third opinions to help you make the decision.

Good luck

I had a PAE done by Dr. Bagla approximately a year ago. Initially I thought it was going to be a success but one year on and I'm right back where I was before I had it done.

Within a week or two post-op, the pressure of my stream when I urinated increased noticeably and I was encouraged. But that was the best it ever got. After about month I noticed my stream pressure decreased. One year post-op and I'm back to getting up 2 - 3 times in the night to pee. I have the urge to go frequently during the day.

I think PAE works for some but it didn't work for me.